Female genital mutilation: UK institutions not to blameWhen it comes to female genital mutilation, blaming anything or anyone other than the culture that practices it, is an extraordinary and cowardly blame-shifting exercise. This concerns Islam, and we must say so

That great parliamentarian Keith Vaz, who, as Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee seeks to maintain moral standards in British public life, has been speaking out on a great moral issue: female genital mutilation – or FGM – in Britain.

Mr Vaz said: "FGM is an ongoing national scandal which is likely to have resulted in the preventable mutilation of thousands of girls to whom the state owed a duty of care."

We can all agree that FGM is barbaric and certainly should not be happening in 21st century Britain. But who is to blame?